Once Upon A Timeship
by FrozenBird
Summary: When telling their kids a bedtime story, Sara and Leonard retell their adventures on the Waverider in fairy tale format. [Captain Canary]
1. Chapter 1

"Once upon a time, in a faraway land…" Sara opened the storybook. Rory and Dinah stared eagerly at her. "There was a kingdom. And,"

"You're not telling them that one, are you?" Leonard stood in the doorway, smirking. "If our lives have taught you anything is that life isn't as perfect as fairy tales would leave you to believe. But I wasn't told fairy tales as a kid, so I'm not really one to judge." He paused. "I haven't really heard them at all, come to think of it,"

"Then I suppose you should listen," Sara patted a spot next to Dinah, gesturing him to sit down. He did, and plopped Dinah onto his lap. She smiled a gap toothed grin. Rory pouted.

"I want to sit on your lap too, daddy!" Leonard made a bit of room for tiny Rory on his lap.

"Here." Rory crawled to the spot, grinning eagerly.

"So anyways, there once was a kingdom. It was ruled over by a king, and the king-"

"Was very sad and angry because he had just lost his family." Leonard interjected, "So he went to the wizard, and asked for a way to save them, even though they were already dead."

"You're not talking about-"

"Shhh. Let me finish. The wizard told the king that he had a magical, um, boat, that could travel through time to save the queen and prince. Sara looked at Leonard questioningly.

"Are you telling them-"

"Shh. The boat came with a magical fairy named Gideon, who knew everything about the past present and future."

"You are definitely telling them about-"

"Shhh!"


	2. Chapter 2

"If your mother is finished interrupting me, I'm going to continue. The king recruited eight heroes to help him on his adventure."

"There was a set of two bandits who would roam a nearby kingdom, stealing and pillaging." Sara added. "They each had a magical sword. One was a sword of ice, one was a sword of fire."

"What were the bandits' names?" Dinah asked.

"Captain Cold, and Heatwave." Sara decided after a moment's thought. "They had real names too, but those were kept a secret. Alright, I'll tell you the rest tomorrow. Time for bed."

"I wanna know more!" Rory wrapped himself in a blanket, eagerly listening to the story. "Pleeeeeeeeeeease? I'm four now! I can stay up as late as Dinah!"

"No. Dinah is seven. You are not. Go to sleep." Sara picked up Rory and attempted to put him

"Oh come on. I want to finish the story too. I never was told bedtime stories as kid, so it's only fair that they should get extra ones." Leonard put Rory back on his lap.

"Playing that card, are we?" Sara put her hands on her hips and smiled. "Alright. Ten more minutes, and then it's off to bed." Leonard smirked.

"There was also a bird warrior," He said. "She had been brought back from the dead, but with the side effect of being extremely violent."

"Was she a real bird?" Dinah said, snuggling up to Sara.

"No. We'll get to the actual bird people soon." Sara put Dinah on her lap. "And the bird warrior's name was…. Um…"

"Canary." Leonard interjected. "She was also extremely beautiful." Sara smiled, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Then there were the actual bird-people. They were named Khufu and Chay-ara, and they were rulers from another time that had been reincarnated. They both had wings, and were also warriors. Chay-ara and Canary were best friends, they would train for battle together." Sara added. "And there was also an old wizard and a young, uh, squire," Leonard snickered, "who could fuze together and set things on fire!"

"Like a dragon!" Rory spread his arms, smacking Leonard in the face.

"Yeah. Like a dragon." Leonard rubbed his nose. "Last, and certainly least, there was a man who had trained with wizards, so he could shrink to the size of an atom. He wasn't very useful."

"Now the story!" Dinah said, growing impatient.

"Alright. So the king….."


	3. Chapter 3

"The king knew the people he had chosen wouldn't want to join him on his quest, so he decided on the only logical way to get them to comply: kidnapping." Sara said. Dinah laughed. "All the Warriors he had picked were very angry that they had been kidnapped. The king explained that he did it because in the future, an immortal evil king named Vandal Savage had killed his wife and son and conquered the kingdom . He wanted to go back in time to kill Vandal Savage so the kingdom would be safe."  
"He needs a name!" Rory declared, suddenly.

"Who does?"

"The king!"

"Let's see…" Sara paused.

"Michael." Leonard said. Sara looked at him quizzically, then laughed.

"I forgot about that! Yeah, his name was Micheal."

"So king Michael," Leonard picked up, "Told the group of warriors that if they wanted to join him on his adventure, they would meet him at a nearby field. There, he would show them his magical boat, and-" Leonard stopped. Rory had fallen asleep on his lap. Dinah was still eagerly awaiting the story. Sara checked her watch.

"9:34! You need to be in bed!"

"Five more minutes?" Dinah pleaded.

"Your brother is asleep. As much as I'd like to tell you more, it's time for bed." She hugged Dinah, and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll tell you more tomorrow." Dinah crawled into her bed.

"Goodnight, Mommy."

"Goodnight, sweetie." Sara scooped the snoring Rory up from Leonard's lap, and carried him off to his room. Leonard followed, planting a kiss on Dinah's forehead, and flicking the light off as he left.

"Sweet dreams, princess."

Author's note: Sorry this chapter is a bit short! Hope you enjoyed it anyway!


	4. Chapter 4

Dinah lay in bed. Her nightlight flickered. She could see odd shadows dancing on the walls.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she whispered. The light quivered for a second, then went out. The darkness seemed to swallow the room. Dinah pulled the warm blankets off of her, the cold air biting her toes, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her feets dangled for a second in the pitch blackness, and Dinah felt like she was sitting next to a deep, dark pit. She slowly slip off the bed. Her feet came into contact with the carbet with a satisfying squish.

The doorknob shimmered slightly in the near-blackness. It seemed so much farther away than it was in the daylight. Dinah made a mad dash for it. Her foot collided with a rouge toy hidden within the carpet. She squealed in pain, and was sent soaring toward the floor. Pulling herself up, Dinah discovered she was inches away from the door. With a sigh of relief, she twisted the doorknob and stepped into the bright hallway.

She found her parents sitting at the kitchen table, sharing the leftover pie from the fridge.

"My nightlight went out." Dinah said. Sara and Leonard looked up from their slices of pie, sharing a guilty look. Quickly, they tried to hide the pie behind their backs.

"It's ok. We'll get you some new batteries for it."Leonard put his half eaten slice of pie in the fridge.

"Was that the pie we were going to eat?"

"Yes…" Sara looked down at her slippers. "Sorry." Dinah giggled.

"It's ok."

Leonard opened the kitchen cupboard, and reached for the batteries, which were on the highest shelf.

"So that's where you put them." Sara scowled. "You know very well that I can't reach that shelf without standing on a chair." Leonard smirked.

"That's also where I hid the DVD of 'Frozen.'"

"Why? I thought you liked it?" Sara jumped, trying to reach the shelf.

"I liked it the first time. About the nightlight, can you go grab it, Dinah?"

"Ok…" Dinah didn't want to go back in the room, but it really was her only option.

Very slowly, she made her way down the hallway towards her room. The doorway leered in front of her, darkness hiding the insides of the room. She took a step forward. It's not that bad. She thought. Pretend you're Mommy. She's never afraid. Pretend not to be afraid. She took a deep breath, and stepped into the room. Carefully, she maneuvered herself around the toys she had left on the floor. Dinah grasped the nightlight, and tugged it out of the wall. I did it. She didn't feel very scared anymore. With confidence in her step, she left the room, grinning at her own bravery.

"I got it!" Holding the broken nightlight high, she handed it to Leonard, who replaced the batteries.

"There." The nightlight glowed.

"Thank you!" Dinah hugged her dad. She walked back to her room, and plugged the nightlight in, without any fear. Wrapping herself in blankets once more, she smiled at how fearless she was.

Author's note: This chapter was a bit different than the others, so I apologize if it isn't what you want. I will try to make the next chapters more like the first three


End file.
